Meeting Notes

EDA/CA Updates

Stacey Danckert, Richard Walsh and Julia Gogoleva to reach out to Green Party members, to get them more involved, come to events, volunteer, donate money.

Bring people closer by talking to them

Kitchener–Conestoga:

CA and EDA have been elected; Kitchener–Conestoga will continue with the new electoral boundaries. (Kitchener South–Hespeler will form a new CA)

Learning Community

Resume in the Fall

Last session was on Basic Income (Guaranteed Livable Income); the third session for “Action Plan” did not take place. Talked about policy development (on GLI). Silicon Valley is concerned about putting people out of work; use Basic Income to offset financial losses. Silicon Valley has a pilot project with 100 families.

Looking for a new way to run Learning Community series — each session has had new people, so there’s no continuity between the three sessions (asking questions, providing answers, action plan)

Summer Festival Information Booths

WR Greens should have our own event (Electoral Reform?) for the public to attend.

Electoral Reform

The NDP is planning “Proportional Representation in the Back Yard”, meant to bring together all the different organizations working on Electoral Reform: Fair Vote, Leadnow, Bob Jonkman was extended an invitation for the Green Party, Liberals have been/will be invited. This is intended to be as non-partisan as possible. Catherine Fife has confirmed her attendance, but her office has withdrawn from organizing; it may become a Fair Vote/Leadnow event.

Fair Vote is not interested in a referendum. It isn’t possible under current election law anyway — referenda can only be called for constitutional matters; selecting an electoral system is not a constitutional matter. The Referendum Act would need to be updated first.

Bob Jonkman believes this is not our only chance to get Proportional Representation. From Paul Nijjar’s presentation in October 2015, other jurisdictions that have undergone Electoral Reform have had their systems altered after the initial decisions were made. Even if PR is not implemented this time, once change has been made it is easier to accomplish further change. http://pnijjar.freeshell.org/2015/prtalk-av/